Because it wasn’t just his outrageous skill and unstoppable flair that made him great. Oh no. It was the way he played the game as if still on the rough streets of Porto Alegre, dribbling the ball past his dog Bombom or scoring 23 goals for his local youth team. He made seasoned defenders in the prime of their distinguished careers look like schoolchildren. He baffled goalkeepers.

So, to celebrate the launch of our brand new and exclusive range of Ronaldinho signed items, we’ve compiled a short list of why it is we love him. Of course, there are innumerable reasons why football fans adore the man who for a period in the mid-noughties was the hero of every street footballer, but we’ll leave it to you to tell us what we’ve missed from our list…

He’s good at football in all its forms

Table football is a real thing and of course Ronaldinho is good at it.

He set up Leo Messi for the Argentine’s first ever goal

It shouldn’t have been legal for Barcelona to have these two on the same team.

He’s scored some pretty outrageous goals himself

The goal of a lifetime for most; just another standard, gravity-defying overhead kick for this man.

Some of them will stay with us forever

Even today’s stars struggle to re-create the Ronnie magic…

His control of the ball was absolute

This deserved more than simple applause, Frank. Come on.

No, seriously, footballs obeyed his every command

This is what Ronnie called ‘a warm up’.

He was pretty good from dead ball situations

Simply unstoppable.

But he still found joy in scoring the simplest of tap-ins

That poor, poor keeper.

He’s still got and will probably never lose it…

Hands up if you think a 37-year-old Ronnie could still do it for your team…